Basic Values, Ideological Self-Placement, and Voting: A Cross-Cultural Study

Gian Vittorio Caprara, Michele Vecchione, Shalom H. Schwartz, Harald Schoen, Paul G. Bain, Jo Silvester, Jan Cieciuch, Vassilis Pavlopoulos, Gabriel Bianchi, Hasan Kirmanoglu, Cem Baslevent, Cătălin Mamali, Jorge Manzi, Miyuki Katayama, Tetyana Posnova, Carmen Tabernero, Claudio Torres, Markku Verkasalo, Jan Erik Lönnqvist, Eva VondrákováMaria Giovanna Caprara

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

72 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

The current study examines the contribution of left–right (or liberal–conservative) ideology to voting, as well as the extent to which basic values account for ideological orientation. Analyses were conducted in 16 countries from five continents (Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Oceania), most of which have been neglected by previous studies. Results showed that left–right (or liberal–conservative) ideology predicted voting in all countries except Ukraine. Basic values exerted a considerable effect in predicting ideology in most countries, especially in established democracies such as Australia, Finland, Italy, United Kingdom, and Germany. Pattern of relations with the whole set of 10 values revealed that the critical trade-off underlying ideology is between values concerned with tolerance and protection for the welfare of all people (universalism) versus values concerned with preserving the social order and status quo (security). A noteworthy exception was found in European postcommunist countries, where relations of values with ideology were small (Poland) or near to zero (Ukraine, Slovakia).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)388-411
Number of pages24
JournalCross-Cultural Research
Volume51
Issue number4
Early online date2 Jun 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2017

Funding

1Sapienza University of Rome, Italy 2The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel 3National Research University, Moskva, Russia 4University of Mannheim, Germany 5Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia 6City, University of London, UK 7University of Zurich, Switzerland 8Cardinal Wyszynski University in Warsaw, Poland 9National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece 10Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovak Republic 11Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey 12University of Wisconsin–Platteville, USA 13Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile 14Toyo University, Japan 15Chernivtsi National University, Ukraine 16University of Salamanca, Spain 17University of Brasilia, Brazil 18University of Helsinki, Finland 19Constantine the Philosopher University, Slovak Republic 20Universidad a Distancia de Madrid, Spain The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The work of Jan Cieciuch was supported by Grant 2014/14/M/HS6/00919 from the National Science Centre, Poland.

Keywords

  • basic values
  • ideology
  • left–right
  • political orientation
  • voting

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Anthropology
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
  • Psychology (miscellaneous)

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Basic Values, Ideological Self-Placement, and Voting: A Cross-Cultural Study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this